Groundbreaking happened one month ahead of schedule on July 30, 2008.[4] Construction of the first unit began in September 2009.[5] Civil construction of Unit 1 was completed 29 March 2013.[6] Fuel loading at Haiyang 1 began on June 22, 2018.[7] First grid connection was on 17 August 2018.[1]
Unit 1 began commercial operation on 22 October 2018.[8]
Construction of unit 2 started in June 2010, at that time the fourth Chinese AP1000 project together with the two units of the Sanmen NPP.[9] Commercial operation began in January 2019, after having completed a full-power test run for a week (168 hours). Both units will provide together about 20 TWh of electricity to the grid of Shandong province.[10]
On July 7, 2022, construction began on unit 3 after authorization had been granted.
In September 2020, the plant's owner and a thermal company instigated a plan to heat all of Haiyang city via heat exchange.[13] Two months later, 700,000 square meters of housing had been heated and the project was en route for completion in its entirety in 2021.[14][15] The switch to clean energy[13] is expected to eliminate more than 180,000 tonnes of fossil fuel emissions each year, and the corresponding reduction in air pollution is anticipated to save about 600 lives annually.[16] By November 2022, the plant used 345 MW-thermal effect to heat 200,000 homes, replacing 12 coal heating plants.[17]
